Dow Company Foundation

The Dow Company Foundation is the formal philanthropic arm of Dow Inc., the global materials science and chemical company headquartered in Midland, Michigan. Established in 1979, it operates as a company-sponsored foundation — meaning Dow Inc. defines the giving strategy, staffs leadership with senior executives, and historically has provided periodic capital infusions. All directors receive zero compensation, reflecting governance by active Dow officers: Chairman Howard Ungerleider (former Dow CFO), Executive Director Kristen Bovid, and board members including Karen Carter (Chief HR Officer) and A. Sreeram (Chief R&D Officer).

The Foundation's giving philosophy is explicitly place-based and community-embedded. Grants flow almost exclusively to communities where Dow operates manufacturing and R&D facilities — Midland (MI), Freeport (TX), Plaquemine (LA), South Charleston (WV), Louisville (KY), Saginaw (MI), and roughly ten other Dow sites. Organizations without a credible project or organizational footprint in a recognized Dow operating community will find the inquiry portal unlikely to advance their request regardless of program quality.

The current strategic framework organizes giving around three pillars: Thriving Communities (economic development, health, arts, United Way partnerships), STEM & Skilled Trades (K-12 STEM, community college workforce training, university research partnerships, FIRST Robotics), and Sustainability (environmental stewardship, conservation, clean community initiatives). This represents a refinement of a prior four-area model, streamlining language while preserving substantive priorities.

First-time applicants should understand the bifurcated grant structure. The accessible tier — Dow Gives Community Grants (up to $20,000) and Dow Promise Program (up to $10,000) — is open via an annual competitive online inquiry cycle. The strategic tier, which accounts for the majority of the ~$21M in annual giving, is relationship-driven: anchor institutions like Greater Midland Community ($11.9M cumulative), Midland Center for the Arts ($7M), and University of Michigan ($5.4M) have earned these investments over decades of partnership. Cold applications for large strategic awards rarely succeed.

Employee engagement is an unofficial but powerful selection signal. The review committee is composed of Dow employees, and proposals tied to existing or planned Dow volunteer programs carry implicit advantage. Documenting how Dow employees will engage with your project — as mentors, tutors, board members, or skilled volunteers — materially strengthens an application and aligns with how the Foundation measures community impact.

The Dow Company Foundation distributes approximately $21 million annually in grants, drawn from an asset base that grew dramatically from $43.2 million (2019) to $250.1 million (2024) — a 480% expansion in five years. This growth was fueled by a series of major corporate contributions from Dow Inc.: $20 million (2019), $55 million (2020), $110 million (2021), and $75 million (2022). Since 2023, no new corporate infusions have been received; the foundation now operates as a self-sustaining endowment generating approximately $11.8–$13.1 million in annual investment income.

Annual giving has remained stable despite asset growth: $18.6M (2019), $18.4M (2020), $17.3M (2021), $21.4M (2022), $21.0M (2023). This consistency reflects deliberate endowment-building, with a payout rate of roughly 8.4% on $250M in assets — modest compared to many private foundations but typical for a growing corporate endowment not yet calibrated to its full asset base.

Across 219 documented grants in the database, the median grant is $10,000 while the average is $79,061, a stark bimodal spread driven by a small cohort of transformational awards. The range runs from $1,000 to $2,225,000. Most recipients receive $10K–$20K community grants; a handful of anchor institutions receive $500K–$2M+ awards. Grant seekers should position for the accessible tier unless a deep pre-existing relationship exists.

By purpose category, Community Wellbeing dominates at roughly 70% of all recorded grants. Higher Education represents approximately 20%, K-12 Education another 8%, with workforce development and sustainability projects making up the remainder.

Geographically, Texas leads with 206 grants, followed by Michigan (134), Louisiana (126), Pennsylvania (79), Kentucky (69), West Virginia (41), Georgia (40), Illinois (39), Tennessee (24), and California (20) — mapping directly to Dow's major U.S. manufacturing footprint.

Notable multi-year patterns: United Way affiliates across Dow communities collectively received over $3.5M cumulatively. Five HBCUs — Howard University ($440K), Florida A&M ($460K), Prairie View A&M ($440K), NC A&T ($330K), Southern University ($241K) — show consistent support totaling over $1.9M, anchoring an equity-in-STEM pipeline priority. The Manufacturing Institute ($2.5M) and FIRST Robotics ($1.5M) anchor the national workforce and STEM investment.

The Foundation's closest asset-equivalent peers, all in the $249–$251 million range within the Philanthropy & Grantmaking NTEE category, provide useful context for positioning and competitive benchmarking:

Among these asset-equivalent peers, the Dow Company Foundation is by far the most publicly accessible — its online inquiry portal and annual competitive cycles make it reachable for nonprofits that clear geographic and programmatic thresholds. Michelson Medical Research funds narrowly within biomedical science through invitation-only channels; Scarlett is concentrated in Tennessee college access; Eastern Bank's footprint is limited to New England. Dow's unique value for grant seekers is its multi-state operational presence spanning TX, MI, LA, KY, PA, and WV: organizations based in any of these Dow communities gain access to a $250M foundation with documented $21M annual distributions. The trade-off is strict geographic gatekeeping — organizations outside Dow operating communities face structural disadvantage regardless of program merit.

Recent activity at the Foundation reflects both stability in giving and turbulence in its corporate parent. In January 2026, Dow Inc. announced the 'Transform to Outperform' restructuring — a $2 billion cost reduction program eliminating 4,500 positions globally. While the Foundation is legally independent of Dow Inc., this corporate contraction aligns with the observed funding pattern: no new contributions were received by the Foundation in 2023 or 2024, compared to $75M in 2022 and $110M in 2021. Grant seekers should expect a conservative, stability-oriented grantmaking posture for 2026–2027.

In 2024, Dow publicly disclosed $33.7 million in combined investments and in-kind donations from Dow and the Foundation — the largest such figure in recent memory, driven partly by escalating volunteer and in-kind contributions rather than cash grants alone. Foundation assets crossed the $250M threshold in 2024, with revenue of $13.1M, all from investment income.

The 2025–2026 Dow FRC International Team Grant was posted on FIRST's Submittable platform, confirming continued FIRST Robotics partnership investment. The Dow Promise Program (up to $10,000 for Black-serving nonprofits in 11 states, operational since 2000) was listed as closed to applications as of early 2026 — typical between annual cycles, with reopening expected in spring 2026.

Board composition remains stable: Executive Director Kristen Bovid leads day-to-day operations, Chairman Howard Ungerleider provides senior oversight, and the board consists of active Dow Inc. executives. In January 2026, Dow also earned its 15th consecutive Clarivate Top 100 Global Innovators listing (ranked #38), reaffirming the STEM innovation identity that the Foundation's grantmaking reflects.

Optimal timing: The Dow Gives Community Grants cycle closes annually around September 5 — build your timeline backward from that date, beginning your draft in June and completing the inquiry form by late August. The Dow Promise Program typically reopens in spring (monitor corporate.dow.com in March–April); as of early 2026 the current cycle is closed.

Only entry point: Use the online inquiry portal at engage.dow.com/GrantsInvestmentsInquiries for all first-time requests. This is the only legitimate intake channel for community-level grants. Contacting foundation staff or Dow site employees as an alternative path signals process unfamiliarity and will not advance your inquiry.

Geographic eligibility before anything else: Confirm your project area maps to a recognized Dow operational community before writing a single word. Priority sites include Midland (MI), Freeport (TX), Plaquemine (LA), South Charleston (WV), Louisville (KY), Saginaw (MI), and St. Charles Parish (LA). Applications from outside these regions face structural disadvantage regardless of merit.

One application per cycle — no exceptions: Submitting to more than one program in a grant cycle disqualifies your organization from all grants in that cycle. Identify the single best-fit program — Dow Gives Community Grants or Dow Promise — and commit to it entirely.

Budget detail is explicitly scored: The Dow employee review committee scores budget specificity. Provide a line-item breakdown: personnel, materials, programming costs, overhead, and a clear fund-to-outcome ratio. A $20,000 request with a six-line itemized budget outscores a vague $20,000 lump-sum every time.

Lead with employee engagement: The review committee is composed of Dow employees who weight proposals with direct volunteer or mentorship opportunity. Name any Dow employee connections you have and quantify the engagement (e.g., 'eight Dow employee mentors, four sessions per year').

HBCU and equity-in-STEM framing: The Foundation's documented track record shows sustained multi-year support for HBCUs and Black-serving organizations. STEM organizations serving underrepresented youth in Dow communities should explicitly reference the equity-pipeline alignment.

For large asks (above $100K): The public portal is not the right channel. Large grants go to anchor institutions with Dow board involvement or multi-year volunteer partnerships. Build the relationship through United Way collaboration, FIRST Robotics team sponsorship, or local community foundation co-investment — then let the relationship lead to a funding conversation over 12–24 months.

Prior grant compliance: Organizations with any incomplete or unreported prior Dow grant are ineligible until the project is closed. Verify your grant management records are current before applying.